A joint Massachusetts Medical Society (MMS) and Massachusetts Health & Hospital Association (MHA) task force has released a white paper in partnership with Reliant Medical Group that details best practices Reliant has adopted to optimize its electronic
health record (EHR) and enhance its usability.
A
report published in January 2019 by MMS-MHA Joint Task Force on Physician Burnout, Harvard School of Public Health and Harvard Global Health Institute identified inefficient EHRs as one of several leading causes of burnout among health care providers.
Patient satisfaction surveys of EHR users conducted by Press
Gainey in 2016 showed Reliant Medical Group’s EHR scoring in the 97th percentile nationally for usability. Key Reliant optimization efforts detailed in the new white paper, “Changing the EHR from a liability to an asset to reduce Physician
Burnout,” include cross-affiliated-facility information sharing for all patient EHRs; inbox management; staff placement of EHR-suggested draft orders prior to patient appointments; provider-specific guidelines for triage staff to handle patient phone
calls; direct EHR interfacing with patients to reduce clinician and staff clerical work; and more.
The white paper urges health care providers to consider implementing these best practices as appropriate, and to share with the MMS-MHA task force any additional techniques they have adopted to improve their own EHRs and/or otherwise address clinician
burnout. The authors note the efforts illustrated in the paper reflect one medical practice’s experience and are not intended to set forth actual operational, clinical or legal requirements in any particular healthcare setting.
The paper’s authors are Steven Defossez, M.D., EMHL, CPE, vice president, Clinical Integration, Massachusetts Health & Hospital Association; Larry Garber, M.D., medical director for Informatics, Reliant Medical Group; Alain Chaoui, M.D., FAAFP, president,
Massachusetts Medical Society.
